Inside The Kidnapping Business

Really interesting article concerning the money side of kidnapping. Some criminal gangs and terrorist groups run it like a real business, and legitimate companies have arisen to help mitigate risk to those who may be taken.

Worth a read. Further information for those interested in purchasing insurance to help in case they are kidnapped should start with this excellent essay on Investopedia.

Lost Dog Update

Katy at the vet

Remember the little puppy I found, crying and alone next to the crushed body of her Mom? Remember how she was so heartbroken that she would just sit still and stare at nothing? At least, that is, until I introduced her to Pete the Dog?

Katy and Pete

I thought you might be interested in an update. This is Katy as of today.

Pete and Katy

She was 5 1/2 Lbs (2.5 kilos) when I found her. Katy is now 35 Lbs (16 kilos), all in a little more than 4 months. Kids! Seems they always grow really fast.

In case you are wondering, Pete was 50 Lbs (23 kilos) when Katy first arrived. He is now 55 Lbs (25 kilos). He chunked up a bit due to the high energy puppy chow I put down in front of Katy. He just gets regular kibble, but they always switch bowls a bit more than halfway done. I suppose dog food is tastier if stolen.

Notice their tails, the dark blur? Currently forming an X behind both dogs? That is because I was bribing them with treats to pose for the camera. Their tails were moving so fast that I could determine velocity or position at any given moment, but not both. Their back ends have entered the quantum realm.

One thing that is readily apparent to anyone who comes to visit is that Pete really, REALLY loves his treats.

Security In A Digital Age


Wireless router.





Door to door salesman.



Home Invader Regrets Kicking Down Door Of Gamer Geek

Ex-con decides to kick down the door of a nerd who was playing computer games and watching Rick and Morty. Big, big mistake!

The nerd spends a lot of time with a group that recreates bladed combat. Kind of like the Society for Creative Anachronism, but different. All of that training stood him in good stead. When the crash of entry forced Ben Ball to drop the controller and take his eyes off of the TV, he came up swinging with a bearded axe!

Picture source.

Kind of like that, but different. I don’t think that the weapon had much of an edge on it, as the felon managed to flee with his life after a brief struggle. Police used dogs to track the suspect via the blood trail he left behind, and he was taken in to custody and provided with medical attention. Ben Ball managed to defend his home and his person with only minor injuries.

Mr. Ball is a hero. He was willing to live and let live, tried to avoid trouble, but when trouble kicked down his door he didn’t hesitate to reach for his favorite axe and stand his ground! Not to mention that the edged weapon sparring he takes part in looks like a lot of fun.

You can get the skinny by watching the local news segment of the incident.

(Hat tip to Glenn for the heads up.)

Firearms History Blog

I came across a blog that I think my readers would find interesting. It is Firearms History, Technology & Development.

What is it about? The title pretty much says it all. It hasn’t been updated in a few years, but I don’t think the info found there has become stale in any way.

What caught my eye and interest was a series of posts where the author discusses the effectiveness of old firearms.

Short barrelled flintlock.
Louise Brooks with a pair of flintlocks.

Antique firearms are tested for accuracy, penetration, and velocity. The results were compared to modern military arms so one can judge the old stuff to the new hotness. Really interesting, at least to me.

Plenty of other stuff there as well, such as the development history of prepellents. Worth a look if you are in to this sort of thing.

Best Choice : Handguns VS Long Guns



Ruger P94
Krag-Jorgenson chambered for .30-40




A Prayer For The Dying

A crazed gunman went on a rampage yesterday in my adopted home of Odessa, Texas. As of this writing, 5 people are dead and another 21 are wounded. One of the injured is a 17 month old girl.

It seemed to have started during a routine traffic stop, when officers of the Department of Public Safety (what they call the highway patrol around here) pulled over a car. The driver fired through the rear window of his vehicle, striking and injuring one of the officers.

After that, he roared off to see how many innocent people he could kill before the authorities brought him down in a hail of gunfire. He shot random people, and killed a female mail carrier in order to steal her delivery van in an attempt to throw police off the scent. He was finally stopped in the parking lot of a crowded movie theater. God only knows what the death toll would have been if the police had not stopped the suspect before he could get inside.

Chief Michael Gerke of the Odessa Police Department has described the deceased suspect as an “animal”. Considering how he deliberately killed people who had never done him any harm, it is hard to disagree.

The police are still collecting evidence. Locations of shootings are blocked off by the police, with officers guarding the crime scenes until the forensic teams can get there. I had to make long detours when I was out and about this morning. It seems to me to be a great deal of effort expended for a lone gunman who has been killed by the police. I wonder if there isn’t something wider going on.

I mentioned earlier that 21 people had been injured. It is unknown if any will succumb to their wounds in the coming days or months. If you are a person of faith, please include them in your prayers.

Lost and Alone

It was early morning, and I was waiting for the doctor’s office to open. Daily temperatures get over 100 degrees F (37 C), but the sun had just come up and it was still relatively cool. I had rolled the windows down to enjoy the breeze.

The parking lot was next to a busy street, but I thought I heard something between herds of hurtling traffic. I followed the noise into an overgrown vacant lot and found a crying puppy. Mom had probably been hit by a car and crawled off into the weeds to die. The puppy was terrified, and wouldn’t have lasted through the heat of the day. As for the rest of the litter, not a sign.

Did I keep my appointment? No, I scooped her up and made a beeline for the vet. I didn’t see myself as having a choice.

That is the pup at the vet, maybe seven weeks old, 15 minutes after I lifted her off the remains of Mom. What the pic doesn’t show is how she is shaking, scared out of her mind. I doubt she has ever known the touch of a human before this day, or been indoors. She had finally stopped crying, but she would start to shriek every time I took my hand off her. So I just held on and waited.

The vet gave me the usual litany of woe when it comes to stray dogs. Dehydrated, malnourished, ticks, fleas, intestinal parasites. The baby dog got some shots, some medication to knock the worms out of her guts, and a pill to make the ticks and fleas drop away. Bring her back in 3 weeks for more shots, payment is accepted cash or card.

I named her Katy because I like the sound of it. What to do, what were my options? Try to get her in a no-kill shelter, take her to a high-kill shelter where she would be put down in three days, or take her home. Long time readers already know what I decided. Besides, I had given her a name. You lose your heart when you give them a name.

She had finally stopped shaking by the time I got her to my rented shack. The problem was that she had also pretty much stopped doing anything else.

She had shut down, showing virtually no interest in anything. Not catatonic, not like a human being, but listless and without energy to do anything but breathe. Katy wasn’t acting like a puppy at all.

This wasn’t my first rodeo, and I knew exactly what to do. I introduced Katy to my other rescue dog.

Hotter Than a $2 Pistol

I knew it was going to get pretty hot when I moved from Ohio to Texas. It isn’t unusual for the temperature to climb past 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37 Celsius).

One of the questions my students would ask is if they could store their defensive handguns inside a car during the summer months. Would it get hot enough for the ammo to cook off?

Some years ago, I reached out to all of the American ammunition manufacturers that I could think of. All of them had the same response. As long as the ammunition is brand new, factory fresh product that has been stored in a cool and dry place, then the primers should not cook off unless temperatures exceed 500 degrees Fahrenheit (260 Celsius).

That is all well and good, but how hot does the inside of your car get when parked in the sun with all the windows rolled up?

This study by the Department of Geosciences at San Francisco State University has some interesting data. It would appear that the interior temperature of a car can rise above the outside temperature by as much as 50 F (27 C). I’ve also seen studies where the interior temperature could rise as much as 60 F (33 C). Any way you look at, the interior of your car will not come anywhere near the temperatures needed to cook off new, properly stored ammunition.

The one thing that has to be stressed is that we are talking about brand new, factory fresh ammunition. High temperatures will cause the components of ammunition, the propellant and primers, to degrade. Give it enough years and the ammunition inside your defensive handgun might well become volatile.

Note that I said “Give it enough years...”

Your defensive arm is subject to a great deal of harsh environments, starting with increased humidity just by being carried close to your skin. That is why I strongly suggested to each of my students that they change the ammunition in their gun for new every year. Take the old stuff to the gun range, shoot it off for practice, and buy new boxes for carry. I do this on my birthday, sort of a gift to myself.

Also note that one should not be using old surplus ammunition for defensive purposes. Reserve that stuff for training, and rely on newer for defense. If you do that, you should never have to worry about ammo cooking off in your car.